In April 2014, Microsoft announced the end of life of Windows XP, Office 2003 and Small Business Server 2003. Many law firms are now faced with the prospect of costly upgrade bills for replacing equipment and updating software licenses. Is there an alternative?

Cloud computing is now being considered in every corner of every business. For many startups, it’s their first resort: Twitter, Foursquare and dozens of others turned first to Amazon’s cloud computing service to store and process data because it meant they didn’t have to buy servers to store anything; they would just pay for the storage and bandwidth they used. That turns computing from a capital expense into an operating expense, with direct benefits for cashflow – key for a small business.